Atiku Abubakar, a leading presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has promised to clear the backlog of salaries owed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) if he is elected.
Speaking at a People’s Townhall meeting on Sunday, Atiku emphasized his commitment to education and outlined his plan to increase funding for universities.
“I will increase the funding level as against what is currently obtainable because I’m a firm and committed believer in education,” Atiku said. “Secondly, I have undertaken to clear all the backlogs so that you go back to classes and students go back to school, but sometimes, there are invincible roadblocks.”
Atiku explained that the current system for distributing funds to universities is inefficient and leads to delays in salary payments. “When the Federal Government releases money for universities, it doesn’t go straight to them but to another federal bureaucracy, and they may decide to do whatever before sending the money to whatever universities,” he said. “I think that is the bottleneck. Why not remove the bottleneck, and whatever is due to the universities is paid directly?”
Atiku cited his experience as Vice President, when he visited several embassies and found that staff had not been paid for months. He said that he was able to clear the backlog of salaries owed by bypassing the bureaucracy and sending funds directly to the relevant ministries. “We will give NUC and universities what they need to operate direct,” he said.
In conclusion, Atiku pledged to increase the country’s educational budget and improve the delivery of services in the public sector. “Of course, I pledge to increase our budgetary allocation, sadly, we are not spending as much as our educational sector is concern in Africa,” he said.
